First came the French, led by Napoleon, ending feudal economic traditions across Europe. Then came the British, bringing their knowledge of new, industrial production methods and business practices. And as a result, the first Industrial Revolution spread to pockets of France, the Low Countries, Germany, and Eastern Europe.
Characters in this episode include:
John Holker, a former Jacobite who spied on the British for French industry
Jacques-Constantin and Auguste Charles Perier, who built steam engines and water pumps
Claude Perier, who built a textile-printing empire and became an investment banker
Adolphe and Eugene Schneider, who built a metallurgical empire in Le Creusot
Louis Motte-Bossut, who built massive textile factories but couldn’t get his parents’ approval
Lieven Bauwens, who built Belgium’s first mechanized spinning mill
William and John Cockerill, Anglo-Belgians who made industrialization happen across Europe
Alfred Krupp, who created a steel empire in Germany and provided generous benefits for his workers
Ernest Knoop, who spread industrialization to Russia
The Silesian weavers, who rose up against the local capitalists and the Prussian authorities